Michael White, The Debonair Greater Englander

Michael White, the parliamentary correspondent of the nominally centre-left Guardian newspaper in the UK, has gained an unenviable reputation over the last decade as one of the more odiously patronising Greater England supremacists of the London commentariat. His barely concealed disdain for the “Celtic fringe” is carefully couched in a pseudo-liberal façade of Anglo-Leftist “anti-tribal” rhetoric. Of course in reality the real target of White’s ire is everyone else’s nationalism but his own British nationalism. However what makes the journalist so remarkable is the smug obliviousness he possesses in relation to his hypocrisy. In a sense he is a true believer in the “genius” of the British race, of Britain’s civilizing influence upon the world, and upon history. No apologises for empire will flow from his pen, or if they do they will be of the sulky, unappreciated type. Like an abuser who cannot understand why the abused saw his or her attentions as anything less than caring.

Watch Michael White’s interview and interaction with the Scottish columnist Lesley Riddoch and marvel at the sneering tone of a man who truly cannot comprehend that Scotland is a nation in its own right and not simply a region of Greater England, replete with its quaint customs, nice liquor, and rather fine salmon.